Walking With Shadows (Nigeria)

The theme of the film, for some, may feel from 70s and 80s, but given the setting in Lagos, Nigeria and the ultra conservative society there along with the culture makes the subject very unique and contemporary even for today's time. The exploration of queer Nigeria lend a fresh relevance to material that might otherwise feel old hat.

Adrian and Ada are happily married couple with a daughter. There life is thrown a spanner when an anonymous call tells Ada that her husband is gay. When she confronts Adrian, he doesn't deny it but asks to be explained. He says he has never cheated and that as his life long before he met Ada, but she would have none of it. He reaches out to an old gay friend for support but we see slowly his life being spiraled down. The gossip spreads where his work gets affected. His two brothers along with is parents who are ultra conservative will take none of this. His brother even takes him to a church with a violent approach to purging the “sin of homosexuality”. Through various flashbacks we are told how many man-years ago he met a French guy, who also potentially became his lover but who was also beaten death by some local goons. And it turns out that it was one of those goons who now works with Adrian at work, who was being investigated for fraud. The normally quiet and reserved Adrian cannot bottle his anger and frustration anymore. He apologized to Ada for not being honest with her but he is not sorry for who he is.

The firstling that you notice while watching the film is that it is extremely slow. Even though the film is barely an hour and a half, it feels like it goes on forever. And that's only because everything moves at a snails pace. The dialogues, the situations, everything. But once you go past that, you start to get the hang of Adrain and his mental situation. Try to put yourself in a uber conservative culture and see from his point of view. His carefully crafted and loved world comes crashing down, but he doesn't lie. He sees that as an opportunity to be himself. Something that his family never let him be. The constant flashbacks and timeline movements does add a lot of confusion and sometimes you had to put pieces together, but they do make sense. Ada's reactions seemed violent to me, but maybe I am biased being a gay man. HE never cheated on her. He had a life long before he met her and he never mentioned. But having said, I do understand the wife's point of view here. Because everything she had built on was not true. The scene where she meets other wives who have gay husbands was very interesting and random. 

As a character, Adrian moves with sadness but also with strength, confronting his family and friends with a weary resign. His gay friends are supportive and sources of joy, but Adrian’s journey is one of emotional heaviness until he rears up in anguish and anger. And as the actor, Adrian has that brooding face and gorgeous eyes that make him a very very beautiful man. If you can get past the very slow moving film, this is not a bad film at all with the culture and location and that is what makes it unique and interesting. (5/10)